Dive Brief:

• The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has invested £500,000 into research for using urine to fuel microbial fuel cells to generate electricity—it's called urine-tricity. Seriously.
• “One product that we can be sure of an unending supply is our own urine," said Dr. Ioannis Ieropoulos, project leader and researcher at University of the West of England in Bristol, UK. Ieropolous noted "the beauty of this fuel source is that we are not relying on the erratic nature of the wind or the sun."
• Urine-tricity "is about as eco as it gets" and "we are very excited by the potential of this work," Ieropolous said. He acknowledged "the need for a great deal more research," however, noting that "so far the microbial fuel power stack that we have developed generates enough power to enable SMS messaging, web browsing and to make a brief phone call on a phone.”

Dive Insight: 

Urine-tricity may be taking the whole sustainable energy thing a little far. But all jokes aside, humans produce a lot of urine and if it can be turned into sustainable fuel for electric power, well, then by all means. While the possibilities are minimal today, the future may hold toilets that take human waste and use it as fuel to generate electricity for our homes and buildings. Then again, it could just really p*ss utilities off.